Former Bank of Namibia (BoN) governor and current mines and energy minister Tom Alweendo has expressed optimism over Namibia’s ability to emerge from the current economic doldrums, provided that everyone pulls their weight.
He said there is no time to complain and point fingers at those who purportedly mismanaged the economy, as the country now needs a collective approach to achieve its developmental endeavours, including the National Development Plans (NDPs) and Vision 2030.
Alweendo, who is also the former head of the National Planning Commission (NPC), said this in response to questions during a breakfast session held with journalists yesterday.
He, however, did not want to be dragged into a conversation around the handling of affairs at his two former employers – BoN and NPC – particularly around the handling of the economy and the country’s NDPs that run concurrently with President Hage Geingob’s Harambee Prosperity Plans (1 and 2). “If we really do the things that we have put ourselves to do, whether it is with the fifth national development plan (NDP5) or the Harambee Prosperity Plan 2 as it is, if we really do those things well, we should be able to recover the economy”, Alweendo said when asked if Vision 2030 is attainable.
At the heart of his optimism is sheer collective hard work and focus.
He then took a swipe at prophets of doom and gloom, whose only preoccupation is to criticise.
“We spend too much time trying to complain about what went wrong, and not really doing enough of what the solution is.
This is not only in government. Even people in the private sector; it is just about complaining,” Alweendo stated.
He is, nonetheless, not oblivious to the realities on the ground.
“What I hear and see somehow makes me feel like [the question whether] we are really going to get there. Look at social media, everybody is an expert on everything…but we are not experts in doing something. We are [just] experts in pointing out what is wrong,” he continued.
But like a dark cloud that has a silver lining, all hope is not lost for Namibia.
As the minister responsible for mines and energy, Alweendo now presides over a portfolio that promises to unchain Namibians from the yoke of poverty, if recent oil discoveries and the much-talked-about green hydrogen project are anything to go by.
However, his comments come at a time when local businesses find themselves between a rock and a hard place.
So dire are things that a movement under the banner ‘Black Business Leadership Network of Namibia’ pleaded with the government to make the state-owned Development Bank of Namibia stop liquidating and repossessing assets of black-owned businesses in the face of a crumbling economy.
A recent report by the World Bank also revealed that 1.6 million Namibians live in poverty.
The situation was exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, which single-handedly pushed at least 200 000 Namibians into poverty, the World Bank’s report added.
-Nampa